Images: Malaika, Ileana, Dia walk for rural India

Images: Malaika, Ileana, Dia walk for rural India

At Vikram Phadnis' show for the Swades Foundation, practically half of Bollywood showed up. Photos by Hitesh Harisinghani

As designer Vikram Phadnis showed his latest line A Celebration of Rural India, the who's who of Bollywood turned up to walk for him and support the Swades Foundation for which he had put up this show.

The colours of Phadnis' designs were inspired by those of the Swades Foundation's signifying the sun and its glow. Swades Foundation run by UTV bosses Ronnie Screwvala and Zarina Mehta has worked in the Raigad and Ratnagiri districts of Mahrashtra.

Joining about two dozen celebrities who walked the ramp were villagers from the districts who had made a difference to their own lives and those of the societies they lived in.

Thus, we first had Anurag Basu and Ashutosh Gowariker walk alongside Manda Kesarkar who along with Mangal Kerarkar introduced second-cropping for the first time in their villages.

Dino Morea, Laxmi Hobde and Kunal Kapoor

Dino Morea and Kunal Kapoor look on as Laxmi Hobde who trains her village members on a variety of livelihood enhancement opportunities including cultivating turmeric, vermicompost and sewing, has her moment in the sun.